About & Our Criteria

This blog was made with the intent to share knowledge and share vocal analyses from different vocalists in K-pop. Nobody in the blog is a hater or an anti-fan. The analyses give positive and negative points and are all constructive criticism, nobody is telling you to hate or not listen to your favorite idol vocalist. We’re only letting you know what their vocal skill based on what vocal technique and music theory is from a musically professional standpoint. If you’re confused about rankings, categories and such, click the about and our criteria page. This post will also include the information existing in that page if you’re unwilling to click through just click read more. Otherwise click About & Our Criteria and most questions should be answered. We try to back up all our points with substantial evidence from the singers’ performances, we thoroughly listen to their performances from past and present. No one in this blog claims to be an all knowing expert, we’re all learning and everyday we learn more and more, just as we respect your opinions, please respect ours, which were influenced by the knowledge we have and the way we’ve been taught. We encourage healthy discussions about technique! Thank you.

This blog is dedicated to compile vocal analyses done by our contributors in order to satisfy everyone’s curiosity regarding their idols’ vocal. The analysis will be based solely on VOCAL TECHNIQUE, not tone, timbre, emotions, stage presence, etc.

The analysis might change according to their latest performance.

If you would like your idol to be analyzed feel free to drop the question in the comment box. If you feel that the analysis is not accurate, you could suggest a video or recording and give us the reasoning behind your disagreement. We will gladly alter the vocal analysis page of the respective idol if your reasoning behind it is proven.

Comments will be moderated. Constructive discussions are welcome. Bashful and hateful comments will be deleted. Every idol mentioned here is talented in their own way. Even so, we are focusing solely on their vocal capabilities and we try our best to give an objective analysis regarding the matters.

So far, we will use this system as our judging criteria. We will elaborate more once it’s established. It goes from best to worst.

TERMINOLOGY

Tones/Semitones/Notes/KeyA key of a song means within the key signature of the song. There are 12 notes in total, C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B and back to C, completing one full octave. A tone is from a note up two semitones, so the distance between C and C#/Db is a semitone, whereas C and D are a full note apart. A major Key will follow a tone tone semitone tone tone tone semitone pattern, so C major is C D E F G A B C. Although there are no sharps or flats between E and F or B and C, they’re a semitone apart. # stands for sharp and b stands for flat and whether or not you name a note sharp or flat depends on the key, i.e. C# major and Db major are the same key with different names, C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C# and Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db, on a piano the same notes are played, just with different names.

IntonationBeing able to stay in pitch and in key. Good intonation means not going sharp, flat or singing a note that isn’t within the chord progression and/or key of the song. Going sharp means slightly above the pitch but not really hitting a note above, so like a note in between C and C#, and flat means a note that’s slightly below pitch, so a note in between C and B, for example.

Larynx Position/High Larynx/Low Larynx/Neutral LarynxThe larynx is the part of the body where the vocal cords are located. The vocal cords are very small and are divided into two parts that vibrate against one another in order to create sound. The speed of the vibration generally determines the pitch someone sings in. Much like tuning a guitar, the more stretched the vocal cords are and thinner they become, the higher the pitch and the thicker they are, the lower the pitch is. In order for a note to be hit, one should have a relaxed opened sound in the larynx, without any restrictions from the throat muscles. If the larynx is pushed down, it creates a froggy and fake “soulful” tone, if it’s pulled up, it creates a thinner, squeezed and tight quality to the voice. The natural state of the larynx is being neutral when it’s relaxed, if it’s forced either up or down, that means the muscles in the throat are creating tension and the larynx is trying to reposition itself in an uncomfortable and unnatural position to hit notes that are not within the individual’s supported range.

Tonality/Tone ProductionThe way tone and sound is produced through good support. The voice comes out stable, without any laryngeal restriction nor tension, tone is clean and has the true sound of the individual’s voice type, without an uncentered pitch, excessive breathiness, nasality and tension.

VibratoThe shift between two notes rapidly within, normally, a sustained note. The difference between the notes is usually less than a semitone. A forced throaty vibrato is usually produced artificially by using the throat, instead of the natural vibrato that comes out once the vocal cords are relaxed with good breath support.

StabilityThe stability of the voice, meaning it’s not off pitch and it doesn’t sound wobbly, shaky and unsupported.

RegistersChest voice, lowest range. Head voice, highest range. Mixed voice, the belting area of the voice.

SupportHow the individual vocalist uses their correct breathing technique with the diaphragm to better support, project and hold their voice together.

Placement vs Resonance vs ProjectionResonance is the optimum sound a vocalist should focus on when singing. It is a full, clean and round sound that won’t sound thin, constricted or small. A vocalist who’s resonant will use different types of placements, i.e. their voice will be placed either in their chest, head or mask (cheekbones area, not nose) to project their voice, in each individual register. A vocalist may be able to be resonant in their mixed voice by normally placing their voice in their mask with chest resonance, or as they go higher, with head resonance. A resonant sound is always going to be a projected sound, now resonance doesn’t mean loud, because a loud sound may still be pushed and strained. You may project but still have tension, but in true resonance tension should not be present. Resonance is produced when the vocalist is able to support their voice. In other words, they have developed vocal cords that are able to connect fully in a healthy manner, without breathiness coming between them nor too much constriction, against the right amount of air pressure. Then the supported sound is enhanced with the proper placement of sound, while keeping the soft palate lifted, the larynx position not high, the swallowing muscles, jaw, tongue And throat relaxed and the jaw dropped so as to amplify the sound of the voice. The combination of an open throat, support, relaxed singing and proper placement is what creates healthy resonance in singing.

Vocal Range vs Supported Range vs TessituraVocal range means the individual’s lowest singable note to the individual’s highest singable note. A tessitura will depend on the individual’s voice type and where their voice sits most comfortably, shines the most and could project the best. A supported range includes notes outside the tessitura where the individual’s voice type may not be naturally inclined to project well in, however so due to the vocalist’s own ability, they’re able to still maintain tone production, support, projection and stability. e.g In classical music, sopranos’ tessituras are something in between A3/C4 to A5/C6, however in contemporary music a soprano singing as high as C6 is very uncommon and unnecessary; a contemporary soprano, for an example Luna, is able to keep resonance consistently up until Eb5, which is almost ideal for a soprano who should be able to carry that resonance up until A5 without a problem. However so she’s also able to sing down to G3 with correct support, which although is outside her voice type’s natural tessitura, she’s still able to keep support and projection down there.

Musicianship/MusicalityMusicianship is the act of changing any song given to you and making it your own, usually on the spot. This includes melodic changes, rhythmic changes and added embellishments. Musicality is the act of interpreting music correctly according to each individual genre of music, by adding the correct use of vocal effects (e.g. raspiness, breathiness, growls, vocal runs, vibrato) and playing with the song musically by adding dynamics (e.g. singing softly, loudly, powerfully on the right moments of each song).

Passaggi/Vocal BridgesA passaggio or a vocal bridge is an area of the voice where one’s voices transition naturally from one to the other in the modal register. Usually for males, the distance between the first passaggio, from chest voice to mixed voice, and the second passaggio, from mixed voice to head voice, is only about a 4th apart, whereas for females it’s about an octave apart. Passaggi are important for one to be able to tell what someone’s voice type is. A register break or the highest note you can sing in your chest/mixed voice before transitioning into head voice is NOT your first passaggio. The first passaggio is a note in your range where your voice naturally feels a switch of muscle coordination in your vocal cords. That doesn’t mean you can’t bring a chest dominant or balanced mixed voice above your first or even second passaggio. Lyric tenors usually have their passaggi around D4/Eb4 and G4/Ab4, whereas lyric baritones have their passaggi at B3 and E4. Lyric sopranos are usually at F4/F#4 and F5/F#5.

Legato/StaccatoA musical phrase usually will last a couple of bars. During a phrase, the melody may be played/sung smoothly connected without every note sounding chopped up, whereas staccato means emphasizing every single note separately with minor less than a second breaks in between every note. Legato is the most basic form of singing through correct breath control and support.

AgilityVocal agility is an embellishment and it means, being able to sing many notes accurately and quickly, by separating each individual note while still being able to connect them within one sung vowel. Those are usually called melismas or vocal runs.

CRITERIA

The new labels on the blog will classify vocalists and label them within their own stylistic choices, vocal register development, supported ranges and where their strengths lie. This isn’t to say anybody is better than anybody. This will merely classify them within their own styles. A vocalist may fit into more than one category at a time.

MH Vocalists: Mid-Range Head Voice Vocalists

Vocalists in this category haven’t developed their head voices very high but are able to use them within a relatively low to mid range in their voice type’s tessitura. They maintain connection at will and are able to access their head voices at will.

Sopranos: Up to at least D5 up to A5
Mezzo-Sopranos: Up to at least C5 up to G5
Tenors: Up to at least A4 up to E5
Baritones: Up to at least F4 up to C5

HV Vocalists: High Head Voice Vocalists

Vocalists in this category have developed a relaxed and open sound in their head voices. They can manipulate dynamics, qualities within their head voices, they maintain supported qualities and manipulate the placement in their head voices well.

Vocalists within this category generally perform the best within their mid-belting mixed voice range. Once they go high, they might have issues with keeping their throats as opened as they were in their mid belting ranges. They must be able to produce resonance in their mixed voices to be classified in this category.

Sopranos: Up to at least C5 up to D5/Eb5
Mezzo-Sopranos: Up to at least Bb4 up to C5/C#5
Tenors: Up to at least G4 up to A4
Baritones: Up to at least Eb4 up to F4

HB Vocalists: High Range Belters

Vocalists in this category perform best and have the most ease within their upper mixed voice ranges. They are able to keep an opened sound without losing tone quality, without losing support and without losing volume while still being relaxed. They must be able to produce resonance in their mixed voices to be classified in this category.

Vocalists in this category are those with relatively narrow supported ranges, whose strengths lie in singing within an octave of their range without going too high or too low too often. They generally keep support within a mid one octave range, but outside of that strain can become more apparent and intense.

Vocalists in this category have somewhat developed their lower ranges, but could still further develop the strength in the vocal cord development, projection, support and connection as they descend lower in range.

Sopranos: Going down to about G#3/G3
Mezzo-Sopranos: Going down to about F#3/F3
Tenors: Going down to about C#3/C3
Baritones: Going down to about A2/G#2

LR Vocalists: Low Range Vocalists

Vocalists in this category generally develop their lower ranges well and are comfortable singing lower than most within their voice types. They have developed chest voices, sung without tension, with connection, projection and ease.

Vocalists within this category usually prefer to sing in a specific specialized generally breathy way, narrowing their genre to keep themselves true to their style. They can often prefer breathiness, soft singing, throatiness and falsetto over singing with more connection and belting with more openness/roundness in tone.

C Vocalists: Commercial Vocalists

Vocalists in this category lack in terms of clarity of tone and overall management of airflow. They don’t necessarily prefer stylistic qualities like breathiness or soft singing. Instead they prefer to sing in a way that’s specific to their own music only, preferring to sing with high larynxes, or more air pressure, etc.

MA Vocalists: Melismatic/Agile Vocalists

This category is exclusive for the vocalists who have learned to how to properly move their vocal cords from note to note, at the center of pitch, with precision, control and ease. They have flexible vocal cords that respond to changes in pitch without sliding through them, but instead hitting each single note at a time with accuracy.

WR vocalists: Well Rounded Vocalists

Vocalists in this category have developed their ranges to sing within a variety of genres and styles while keeping a strong connection between their vocal cords and air management to sing with minimal strain within a wider range, from chest voice to mixed voice to head voice. The development of each of those registers should be both consistent and balanced.

For further question you can check our “The Team” page and contact us directly if you’d like.

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11,023 thoughts on “About & Our Criteria”

hey ahmin! it’s been a long time since i commented so I don’t think you’ll remember me lol. How are you doing? Is it okay if I could get some feedback about my singing?
here’s the singing (the piano playing is crap cause I could only focus on singingㅠㅠㅠ)https://vocaroo.com/i/s1p8cwFIZCiq

Wow thank you! I will not hesitate to share my thoughts about my bias singing, even when I’m miles away from professional. She supported well, but nothing in here were resonant. Latter part of low notes section at the begining wasn’t very good, it was very low (down to C3) and she usually isn’t very comfortable below A3, but she handled herself quite okay as she stylistically chose to use more air and enunciated more quietly rather than fully pushed her larynx down and strained it all down with strong artificial tone and weight. About falsetto section around 1:16 – 1:23, her A5’s and Bb5 sound pushed to me, but she seems to have comfort on G5 and below. I’m impressed. Lastly, the choruses are like super comfortable for her, her diction can be sound a bit unnatural because she sang in the foreign language. Anyway, nothing is challenging other than C5’s “s *pi* rit and hear *it*” which were phrased notes and didn’t seem to carry much tension. ( first “it” sounds less pushed) Her agility could have more work, but the runs in this song wasn’t as speedy and complex as those in girl spirit’s and she sounds nice and not pitchy. My bias is a smart vocalist, she has never really present herself as a straining show off type. I’m really proud of her.

Hello! I just made a cover of Me After You by Paul Kim. Can any of you guys commented on my singing, please? I’m aware there are strains here and there, especially above D4 it gets more apparent (a Baritone here). Thanks a lot in advance ❤

Hi Ahmin, I have a question about tongue position when singing. According to singing teachers the tongue should lie behind the bottom front teeth. But for my case, I have a gap between my upper and bottom teeth. My lower jaw seem to be smaller than the top. Because of that, when my tongue is on rest position, it goes above the bottom front teeth and I can’t force it behind while singing. So when I sing my tongue is mostly above my bottom front teeth. I feel like I don’t sound very good. Does it really significantly change the way I sound ?
Thank you for all the vocal tips you give, I have been able to learn a lot from this website and your videos for the past 2 years.
Sorry for my English.

Hey, not ahmin but hopefully I will be able to answer your question
generally, your tongue should be in the most natural position as possible. It is worthy to note that incorrect tongue position can often be a giveaway as to whether a vocalist is straining or not. For example, singers like Kim Dongmyung and Hua Chenyu have tongues that “cup” inside their mouths when they are singing, and people like Ken Tamplin and Lee Jinsung have their tongues poking out when they are singing. Not only is this aesthetically unpleasing, but it also shows the amount of unnecessary tension they are putting into their tongues when they are singing, which will prohibit their “openness” and their ability to support. Back to your case, i think that if your tongue is physiologically placed on top of your bottom teeth (it is the most natural position for you) then I don’t see why you should force your tongue back and strain yourself. However, make sure that it is not a psychological problem.

I know you don’t pay attention to rappers but I was hoping you could enlighten me with moonbyuls performance here https://youtu.be/FSxtm29Hem4 @ 1:12 mainly because she trained to be a singer before becoming a rapper and if because of said training she is able to produce support in anything she sings since I’m trying to see out of all the rappers who seems to know what to do with their voice when switching roles.

I think Ahmin said before that Moonbyul doesn’t support her voice and mostly place the sound in her throat. However considering that she is in a vocal group with three other adequately trained members she does seem to pick up singing easier.

Hi, I used to like singing (amateur, I don’t think I sound good though lol) until my throat becomes too stuffy (had to clear my throat after singing some lines). And this is my first time to ask for your comment and critiques on my cover of When We Were Young by Adele, sung by Taeyeon in Begin Again 3 (you will hear her voice at first, because I need to listen to the song while singing). Any opinions will do! Thanks in advance

Hi Ahmin,
I would like to ask you few questions about Lee Jinsung of Monday Kiz. He is tenor. https://youtu.be/T4KzZVQELdQ This video is his performance at King Of Masked Singer of “Blue Whale” by YB/Yoon Do Hyun.
1. Could you tell me how wide does he support his voice throughout the song? I think he is able to support here until F#4.
His overall range is G#2 to D5 and his mix here is until B4.
2. I know that he has lots of glottal tension because he tends to poke his tongue out when he belts. Could you tell me if there are more points for improvement here?
3. Is belt at 2:34 supported?

Why would this comment not be posted on Taemin’s analysis page? ._. The This is your Day line is Taemin but the B4 adlib has runs that are executed too quickly for it to be Taemin singing and the tone of the voice sounds more like Kyuhyun or Yoo Youngjin if anything to me.

It’s that intense, raspy and throaty sound that still sounds kind of melodic. Whenever I try to mimic it, It just comes out like more of a scream akin to death-metal instead of sounding more melodic and pleasant like Jonny Craig does it.

Do you know what this technique is called and how to do it? Btw, Yes, I’m pretty sure that what the singer is doing isn’t healthy and can damage the voice but I’m still curious.

Sorry baby but I have not been answering video questions for anybody for a while. Including K-pop singers (occasionally I do answer because it’s relevant to the blog) but the rule against answering non-K-pop related questions has been long standing.

Hi ahmin I was wondering if you couuld watch this and let me know if you hear support or resonance? in my opinion she is one of the only Japanese singers who doesn’t sing in an overly nasal tone and actually has proper support. Her voice is very clear and resonant to my ears, this song features a very broad vocal range as well. Curious to hear your thoughts!

Wow I didn’t remember Kaori sang like this is Miezaru Ude, and it’s much better than what I had in my memory, maybe even better than in Moira and FictionJunction! See how much she improves since 2nd Live…

In my opinion, Kaori does support decently and has nice mid-belts, but I doubt if she resonates constantly. 3:54-4:02 is nice, that B4 sounds so easy for her, but I can’t tell if it’s resonant. 3:38-54 I just hope she’d sing it with a neutral larynx. That octave jump is remarkable.

But I also want to point out that she probably has had great regression on her skills. She’s obviously gained so much nasality, uneven breath support, mix become more uneven and throatiness in recently years. I have not heard her sing like this for long, including the live performance went to in this August. I’m sad.

Really? You would say so?
I also went to one of the recent YK lives and I would argue that she still sounded great. Maybe not as super on point as in this video, but still really really good, and honestly the difference Wakana not being there during that live made it 10 times more enjoyable imo.

I would argue that her and Keiko are the only 2 Kala/FJ vocalists who haven’t regressed vocally with time, Keiko’s always been consistently getting bettter imo (she sounded a bit weaker than she did during her kalafina days in the YK live imo, but I honestly just blame that on her year and a half hiatus, I’m sure that with time she’ll pick it all back up again :p) , and Kaori, while she does have a tendency to get more shouty and strainy when she gets excited (Her covering Wakana’s part in stone cold during the live was a bad example of this for me, but I don’t fully blame her as she’d never sung that part before) , has still proven she can support in recent lives (Sweet song and elemental really impressed me at the live).

And even if she has gained more nasality, I don’t think it’s anywhere near as noticeable or obvious as the regression Hikaru’s voice went through like damn 😦

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Is it possible for someone to “naturally” support? If that makes sense? As in they have little to no training as far as technique goes yet they have a somewhat decent supported range…. I guess a good example of this would be Bada (even though she’s very heady) since IIRC SM didn’t have actual vocal technique training back then

Not an admin but I think there are definitely people that have natural talent and instinctively know how to use their breath. Someone like Apink’s Eunji or that ballad singer Jung Seunghwan, I believe both said multiple times they don’t think much of vocal training, so I guess both had reasonable talent beforehand… but don’t quote me on it 😅

both definitely took vocal lessons and eventually still do, take Jung Seunghwan, for example, his predebut, his kpop star time and now are all different eras where his vocal level isn’t the same . vocal talent can take many shapes some can assimilate lessons way quicker than most, some can imitate great singers in their approaches.

How can readers find out your newly updated singers’ vocal analyses? And which update is really the newest? As a long-term reader, I’m very sad that you’re no longer posting new articles and videos. We’re all busy, I understand it. My only hope is the updated analyses. I love to see singers’ improvements. But I can’t find any tools to sort your latest updated analyses . There isn’t nofitication, date of update,… I hope adminitrators see this.

Not an admin, but I believe Haseul does support her head voice, simply because it just sounds far better than what I’ve heard from many other idol vocalists, lol. Not sure to what extent, but it remains connected up to C6/C#6 from what I’ve heard when she took the key up on the second time she sung that opera song. I don’t think she’s showcased anything higher as of yet. Her head voice definitely is promising, though I can’t say anything about how wide the support spans since my ears really aren’t great. Considering how she’s a light soprano, and has an existing head voice that functions well to an extent, I’d say she has a lot more range to show with potential support and resonance. She seems like a safe and reserved vocalist so far to me. She doesn’t seem to show a bad habit of constantly singing out of her range or using weird, potentially harmful styles. I just know she can get pretty airy, but she seems to know how to introduce more connection into her voice when necessary. Support is present in her voice overall, even though it’s definitely limited. Hopefully that answered your question!

here is the new live singing video of Yuju after she has been absent and came back with super think voice as if she is having been sick. So, can you check this video out and spot how Yuju’s techniques are improved or worsened. Thanks you in advance

It mostly sounds like her hearts not in the performance tbh.. She sounds tired which may be due to the fact that she was sick(?) 1:35 onwards her placement seems to be slightly inconsistent as she ascends in her range but her technique is pretty much the same as before. Again, she seems very tired

Why not just post this on Wendy’s analysis..where it’d be more useful and like it’d be in context? I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t been looking at some other comments otherwise to update her range. So in the future, please post video questions where they’re relevant, especially if we’ve already analyzed the vocalist.

not Ahmin but I sure know some things with Hynn so I think I can help you 🙂 her supported range is somewhere around Bb3~B4. in the fifth octave, her placement starts to become very questionable (pushiness + throat tension), even in the fourth octave. iirc her lower range is pure air and lacks tone

hi, I’m not Ahmin but it doesn’t sound 100% supported to me 🙂 it sounded kind of shouty even if he managed to add some vibrato at the end. he’s also pulling way too much chest voice in his mix for a tenor. his throat looks quite tired too, so I would say there’s throat tension as well

I’m not Ahmin but from what I can hear, you’re not supporting your voice because you sing with 0 breath support (your voice sound very throat-y). your throat seems very tight because you’re pulling up your larynx way too much. it also makes you sound very throat-y especially on the last note, which was strained. your mixing is decent and you could go far if you work on supporting your voice with diaphragmatic support + relaxed vocal chords and throat. the song was too high for your technique, so you need to sing more songs in your comfortable range for now 🙂 you sound like a baritone to me btw